We are very sad to say that we had to have Leo put to sleep (25th March 2006). He lost a difficult battle against diabetes and died in Kay's arms.
It all started nearly two weeks ago. He lost his appetite (and you REALLY know something is wrong with Leo when that happens) and was being sick a lot. He lost an incredible amount of weight in a very short space of time. We were terribly concerned and rushed him to our vets. When we first took him in, he collapsed. We were very afraid that he was going to die and they agreed that it would be touch and go. They ran some tests, put him on a drip and kept him in overnight.
He was diagnosed as having diabetes. Whether or not there was any link to his previous illness (auto-immune), or whether there was something else going on, underneath all of this, they weren't sure. They started treating him for the diabetes and ran some more tests - our biggest concern was pancreatitis, which is as serious in dogs as it is in humans. They said that they would need to keep him in the hospital for a while - it can take anything up to a few weeks to stabilise the blood sugars when newly diagnosed as being diabetic, and that whilst his chances of survival weren't great, they had certainly had dogs in the hospital in a similar condition to Leo that had pulled through. We remained optimistic.
The tests revealed that he didn't have pancreatitis, but that there was some liver damage (presumably caused by the high doses of drugs he had needed to treat the auto immune disease). Whilst at the vets, Leo was still refusing to eat and his blood sugars were still rocketing, despite being given insulin in increasing doses. Jacqui and Kay went to visit him as often as they could and although he was looking very sorry for himself, he managed to smile and wag his tail for them.
On Friday evening, Kay moved him from the Canton surgery down to the Marlborough Road surgery, where they have weekend facilities for nursing the animals. On Saturday morning (yesterday) she went to see him, picking up some special diabetic treats and a 'Diabetes UK' teddy bear for him on the way. Just after she left, Jacqui got a call from the vets to say that they felt it was time that we made a decision - Leo's condition was not improving and they were very worried about him. Kay arrived, unaware of this phonecall. She spent a good half an hour with Leo, cuddling him and fussing him. Then he starting having little seizures. He was put to sleep just before lunchtime and died in Kay's arms. We think that he was probably having major organ failure - a result of his blood sugars being up so very high for so long. Despite our dedicated vets' best efforts, we had simply not been able to stablise his blood sugars in time.
We are all devastated. Kay adopted Leo from the dog pound when he was a puppy. He has been Jacqui and Kay's faithful friend for all these years and will be sorely missed.
Leo was always such an energetic, happy, smiley dog. He would always run to greet you and would jump up and down with enthusiasm until you stopped and said hello to him. It's no secret that he loved his food. He had perfected the art of stealing cat food; he could even pick up food bowls in his mouth without spilling a single chunk, so that he could carry them off and eat the contents in secrecy. He used to regularly try to break into the fenced off areas we have for feeding our ferals. The first time that he tried, he was successful - he ate every last morsel! - and we had to reinforce the fencing. However, we had assumed that it was Luka until we found the evidence - his tartan coat had got caught on the fencing and a little bit of it got left behind!
This photo was taken in February 2006, whilst Leo was recovering from his auto-immune disease.
When we opened SHUA, Leo took it upon himself to become SHUA's guard-dog and helped to train Luka in these duties also. Leo was always chief woofer, raising the alarm about any cyclists, pedestrians or vehicles that went by; Luka would then take Leo's lead and join in. When Leo first became ill with the auto immune disease last November, he still raised the alarm, but woofed from his bed instead, sending Luka down to investigate by himself.
It was only at the start of March that we were saying that he was finally on the mend from the auto immune disease. He had started to look and act like a doggy again, running around, woofing, stealing cat food and generally enjoying life. He even went for a visit to a local scout group earlier in March with SHUA. He entertained the boys there with his tricks - for treats, of course! It's hard to believe that he was so much better and then went down hill so rapidly with something else.
Luka is pretty much inconsolable. We also have had Luka from a pup - he turned up one day on the building site that is now our current premises and house (in 2002). He adored Leo, he worshipped the ground he walked on. He looked up to him like an older brother, taking direction from him about how to guard the place, how to steal the cats' food and everything else that a doggy needs to know.
On the first night that Leo stayed in the vets, Luka didn't know what to do. He has slept with Leo every single night of his life for the past three and half years. He knew that Leo would never allow him in his kennel (they each have a big kennel under the canopy, facing each other) so instead, he pulled the bedding out of Leo's kennel and dragged it out onto the lawn. He sat on it and refused to budge, even though it was raining.
Lucy, SHUA's newest canine addition, is desperately trying to bring him out of his grief but it is proving difficult. Lucy came to SHUA just before Christmas. She was a skeletal, pathetic looking rottweiler who had obviously been very neglected and mistreated. She is now a bit of a supermodel, with a super glossy coat and a lovely smiling face. She has behavioural problems in that, at some point in her past (she is approx 4 years old now), she has been taught that anything cat-size or smaller, is prey. Bit of a problem in a cat rescue shelter! She is learning, slowly, that cats aren't toys and that she must not chase them or put them in her mouth and shake them(!), but we still keep a baskerville muzzle on her when she is outside, just in case. Because of her history, she isn't really a candidate for re-homing and so we had pretty much already decided to keep her - both the boys had given it their seal of approval. Now that Leo is gone, she will be a much-needed companion for Luka.
It will take a very long time for all of us to get through our grief. Leo was such a happy, playful dog and has been snatched away from us well before his time. His spirit will live on at SHUA and we hope that he rests in peace.
Goodbye Leo.
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